Vehicle seat

ABSTRACT

A vehicle seat having: a seat cushion and a seat back formed by covering a surface of a seat pad with a top cover member; a plurality of air holes which penetrate the seat pad to reach a surface of the top cover member; a plurality of air outlets which project from a surface of a duct to be connected to the air holes; and an air blower to pressure and feed air inside a vehicle compartment to the air holes through the duct and the air outlets, wherein a member which has an elastic modulus larger than that of the seat pad forming the seat cushion is interposed between the seat cushion and the duct.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a vehicle seat having an airconditioning function.

2. Description of the Related Art

Recently, there is known a vehicle seat having an air conditioningfunction in which a plurality of air holes are provided in a top covermember of a seat cushion and a seat back of the vehicle seat, and airfrom an air blower is ejected from the air holes (refer toJP-Tokukaihei-10-297274).

The vehicle seat disclosed in JP-Tokukaihei-10-297274 is schematicallyconfigured such that the plurality of air holes are provided topenetrate a top cover member, a cover pad and a pad forming the seatcushion and the seat back, an air blower, an intermediate duct and aseat cushion air exhaust duct are arranged on a lower surface of theseat cushion, and a seat back air exhaust duct is arranged on a backsurface of the seat back.

A plurality of air outlets which slightly project from the surface toengage with the inside of the air holes are formed on the seat cushionair exhaust duct and the seat back air exhaust duct. The air from theair blower is fed to the seat cushion air exhaust duct and the seat backair exhaust duct through the intermediate duct, and is then ejected fromthe air holes connected to the air outlets to the seat surface.

However, in a vehicle seat having a normal air conditioning functionincluding one disclosed in JP-Tokukaihei-10-297274, the duct is arrangedat the lower surface of the seat cushion, so that when a passenger sitsin or pushes a pedal, the passenger may feel uncomfortable due to theduct, thereby losing a comfortable feeling to sit in, or damaging theduct due to the impact by the weight of the passenger's body.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been achieved in view of the above problem,and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle seatwhich is capable of suppressing deterioration of comfortable feelingwhen sitting in the seat due to a duct arranged on a lower surface of aseat cushion.

To solve the above problem, in accordance with the first aspect of thepresent invention, the vehicle seat of the present invention comprises:

-   -   a seat cushion and a seat back formed by covering a surface of a        seat pad with a top cover member;    -   a plurality of air holes which penetrate the seat pad to reach a        surface of the top cover member;    -   a plurality of air outlets which project from a surface of a        duct to be connected to the air holes; and    -   an air blower to pressure and feed air inside a vehicle        compartment to the air holes through the duct and the air        outlets,    -   wherein a member which has an elastic modulus larger than that        of the seat pad forming the seat cushion is interposed between        the seat cushion and the duct.

According to the vehicle seat, a member which has elastic modulus largerthan that of the seat pad forming the seat cushion is interposed betweenthe seat cushion and the duct, so that in the case where the frontportion of the seat cushion is deformed due to the downward compressingforce from a thigh of a passenger when the passenger sits in or pushes apedal, the member us elastically deformed to encompass the circumferenceof the duct. Thus, the passenger does not feel uncomfortable due to theinterposed duct, thereby enabling to prevent to lose a comfortablefeeling when sitting in the seat, and absorbing the impact to the ductby the weight of the passenger. Further, deformation of the frontportion of the seat cushion in the vertical direction (vertical stroke)can be secured due to the elastic deformation of the member.

Consequently, a vehicle seat which is capable of suppressingdeterioration of comfortable feeling when sitting in the seat due to theduct arranged on the lower surface of the seat cushion can be obtained.

Preferably, in the vehicle seat of the present invention, the seat padcomprises an elastomeric resin formed by a foamed polyurethane or aflexible urethane foam, the member having an elastic modulus larger thanthat of the seat pad is formed by an elastomeric resin which is formedby a foamed polyurethane or a flexible urethane foam having an elasticmodulus larger than that of the foamed polyurethane or the flexibleurethane foam used for the seat pad.

According to the vehicle seat, the seat pad comprises elastomeric resinformed by foamed polyurethane or flexible urethane foam, and the memberhaving elastic modulus larger than that of the seat pad is formed byelastomeric resin which is formed by foamed polyurethane or flexibleurethane foam having elastic modulus larger than that of the foamedpolyurethane or the flexible urethane foam used for the seat pad, sothat the structure capable of obtaining the effect specificallydescribed above can be applied.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from thedetailed description given hereinafter and the accompanying drawingswhich are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not intendedas a definition of the limits of the present invention, and wherein;

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outline of a vehicle seat;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main portion showing astructure of a seat back;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a framework structure of the seatcushion side of the vehicle seat;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the framework structure of the seatcushion side of the vehicle seat;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main portion showing anarrangement of a high modulus member; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a framework structure of the seatback side of the vehicle seat.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The preferred embodiments for embodying the present invention will beexplained in detail below referring to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a vehicle seat 10 is schematically configured tocomprise a seat cushion 20, a seat back 30, a head rest 40 provided onthe upper portion of the seat back 30 and the like. Among them, as shownin FIG. 2, the seat back 30 is configured such that a surface of a pad31 which keeps a seat shape and functions as a cushion member is coveredwith a cover pad 32 with permeability, and the surface of the cover pad32 is further covered with a top cover member 33. FIG. 2 shows the seatback 30, however, similarly, the seat cushion 20 is also configured suchthat the surface of the pad 31 is covered with the cover pad 32 and thetop cover member 33. Hereinafter, the combination of the pad 31 and thecover pad 32 is described as a “seat pad 34”.

There are a plurality of air holes 33 a formed in the surface of the topcover member 33. As shown in FIG. 2, each air hole 33 a is connected toan air outlet 61C on the surface of the duct 60C.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a framework structure of the seatcushion 20 side of the vehicle seat 10, and FIG. 4 is a perspective viewof the framework structure as seen from the lower surface side.

The framework structure of the seat cushion 20 side is schematicallyconfigured to comprise a pair of right and left seat rails 21, a pair ofright and left seat frames 22 attached to the seat rails 21, seatsprings 23, a pan frame 24 which is crossed over the seat springs 23 andthe front portions of the seat frames 22, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 4, air blowers 50A and 50B for the seat cushion 20 areattached to the front and center of the lower surface of the pan frame24, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 5, a member 70 (hereinafter, refer to “high modulusmember 70”) having elastic modulus higher than that of the seat pad 34(the pad 31 and the cover pad 32) forming the seat cushion 20 isinterposed between a duct 60A and the seat cushion 20.

As the pad 31 and the cover pad 32, for example, one which is formed byintegrally molding elastomeric resin such as closed cell type or opencell type foamed polyurethane or flexible urethane foam to conform tothe seat shape is used, or an assembly of elastomeric resins which aremolded into particles is used. The high modulus member 70 used in thepresent invention is also formed with elastomeric resin such as closedcell type or open cell type foamed polyurethane or flexible urethanefoam, however, the elastic modulus thereof is higher than that of theelastomeric resin used in the pad 31 and the cover pad 32.

As shown in FIG. 4, a duct 60B connected to the air blow hole of thecentral (back) air blower 50B extends backward on the lower surface sideof the pan frame 24, and branches off in right and left direction.

A plurality of tubular air outlets 61A, 61B are provided to projectupward at the positions on the upper surfaces of the ducts 60A, 60Bcorresponding to the plurality of air holes 33 a.

FIG. 6 is a back view of the seat back 30, and the seat back 30 isschematically configured to comprise a sub seat frame 31 having anopening 31 a in the center, a seat spring (omitted from the drawings)attached to the sub seat frame 31 and the like.

An air blower 50C for the seat back is attached to one of the right andleft lower sides of the back surface of the sub seat frame 31.

A duct 60C connected to the air blow hole of the air blower 50C extendsupward from the right and left positions in the opening 31 a of the subseat frame 31.

At the positions corresponding to the plurality of air holes 33 a on thefront surface of the duct 60C, similar to the above seat cushion 20side, a plurality of tubular air outlets 61C are provided to projectupward.

The air outlets 61A, 61B, 61C of the seat cushion 20 side and the seatback 30 side engage the insides of the air holes 33 a of the seatcushion 20 side and the seat back 30 side, respectively.

As above, according to the vehicle seat 10 of the present invention, thehigh modulus member 70 is interposed between the seat cushion 20 and theduct 60A, so that in the case where the front portion of the seatcushion 20 is deformed due to the downward compressing force from athigh of a passenger when the passenger sits in or pushes a pedal, thepassenger does not feel uncomfortable due to the interposed duct 60A,thereby enabling to prevent to lose a comfortable feeling when sittingin the seat, and absorbing the impact to the duct 60A by the weight ofthe passenger's body. Further, enough deformation of the front portionof the seat cushion 20 in the vertical direction (stroke in the verticaldirection) can be secured due to the elastic deformation of the highmodulus member 70.

Moreover, in the present invention, the seat pad 34 is formed withelastomeric resin formed by foamed polyurethane or flexible urethanefoam, and a member having elastic modulus higher than that of the seatpad 34 is formed with elastomeric resin formed by foamed polyurethane orflexible urethane foam having elastic modulus higher than that of thefoamed polyurethane or flexible urethane foam used in the seat pad 34.Thus, the structure capable of obtaining the effect specificallydescribed above can be applied.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, andvarious improvements and design changes may be made without departingfrom the scope of the invention.

As above, the vehicle seat according to the present invention is usefulas a seat mounted on the vehicle such as an automobile or the like,especially, the vehicle seat is suitable as a seat to give comfortablefeeling to a passenger when the passenger sit in.

The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application Nos. Tokugan2004-102527 which was filed on Mar. 31, 2004, Tokugan 2004-102594 whichwas filed on Mar. 31, 2004, Tokugan 2004-102601 which was filed on Mar.31, 2004, Tokugan 2004-102620 which was filed on Mar. 31, 2004, andTokugan 2004-102639 which was filed on Mar. 31, 2004, includingspecification, claims, drawings and summary are incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

1. A vehicle seat comprising: a seat cushion and a seat back formed by covering a surface of a seat pad with a top cover member; a plurality of air holes which penetrate the seat pad to reach a surface of the top cover member; a plurality of air outlets which project from a surface of a duct to be connected to the air holes; and an air blower to pressure and feed air inside a vehicle compartment to the air holes through the duct and the air outlets, wherein a member which has an elastic modulus larger than that of the seat pad forming the seat cushion is interposed between the seat cushion and the duct.
 2. The vehicle seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seat pad comprises an elastomeric resin formed by a foamed polyurethane or a flexible urethane foam, the member having an elastic modulus larger than that of the seat pad is formed by an elastomeric resin which is formed by a foamed polyurethane or a flexible urethane foam having an elastic modulus larger than that of the foamed polyurethane or the flexible urethane foam used for the seat pad. 